Sex abused girls bribed with lollies

A paedophile who sexually assaulted his nieces then bribed them with lollies and ice-cream will spend at least three years behind bars over his historic crimes.

The 72-year-old, who cannot be named, abused his two nieces when he was supposed to be taking care of them about 40 years ago.

His victims were aged between four and eight at the time and were assaulted at the man’s house and in his truck.

The man promised to buy the girls sweets after subjecting them to the abuse and at one point he threatened to shoot one of his victims if she told anyone what had happened.

District Court Judge Gillian Braddock jailed the man for five years recently and made him eligible for parole.

He could walk free after spending three years in prison.

She said the man continued to deny his offending and had shown no remorse for the harm he had done through his “abhorrent” abuse.

“It affects the development of a young person emotionally in ways that are hard for an outsider to appreciate,” Judge Braddock said. “It is a very grave injury, non-physical, that has been done to these then children, now women.”

The abuse was reported to police in 1985 and 2001, but the man was not charged until the case was reviewed two years ago.

In their victim impact statements, the women said they were unable to forget what their uncle had done.

They said the abuse had stolen their innocence and they had a fear of older men.

The man was convicted of a sex offence involving an underage girlfriend in 1970 and was found guilty of abduction a few years later after a teenage fan of his band went on a trip with him.

In 2004, he was sentenced to 5½ years jail for abusing his daughter in the 1980s and 1990s.